Essence of Islam

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Quran spells out a long list of Do’s and Don't s to be adhered to by a devout Muslim. Among these I feel the most essential things are the following.

1. Worship none but Allah

2. Treat with kindness your parents and kindred, and orphans and those in need.

3, Speak fair to the people.

4. Be steadfast in prayer.

5. Practice regular charity.

“Wa iz akhaznaa meesaaqa Baneee Israaa'eela laa ta'budoona illal laaha wa bil waalidaini ihsaananw wa zil qurbaa walyataamaa walmasaakeeni wa qooloo linnaasi husnanw wa aqeemus salaata wa aatuzZakaata summa tawallitum illaa qaleelam minkum wa antum mu'ridoon”

Quran 2.83

This Ayah or verse is addressed to the Israels but it represents the core of Islamic faith with universal appeal.

As I said in the very beginning, we can find the same things highlighted in various other religions of the world whether it is Judaism, Christianity or even Hinduism or Upanishadic thought.

While comparing, we have to keep in mind that the way of expression depends on the person who expresses it, the people to whom it is meant, the situation in which it is said and so on.

When a small kid tries to go near the fire, you just drag it away and shout ‘NO’. You don’t try to explain to it ‘why Not’. This is because it is too small to understand your explanation.

But when the same kid grows up, you probably will take the kid close to fire and make it feel the heat and tell it that ‘fire hurts’. With a more grown up kid, you probably explain the dangers of fire and how it needs to be handled carefully.

You don’t use the same approach in each case.

So if some of the Quranic injunctions appear to be rigid and dictatorial, probably we should see them in this light. They are meant for certain people when they were in a certain state of evolution. But the underlying concern is the same – just the welfare of the other person to whom this advise or admonition is made.

What I am going to do in the next few episodes is to take each of these injunctions, and see how the very same injunctions appear in other religions, with the intent of stressing the point that the underlying current is the same in all.

We will discuss these one by one from the next episode on-wards.

Quranic verses episode 4

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Based on verses from Holy Quran. The interpretation is by Dr.King. The Quran recitations are from various sites such as Quran.net, Quran411.com and so on.